Friday, July 31, 2009

First they bash it, then they use it.

Human beings are very interesting creatures. Their behaviour is very unpredictable and often illogical. They have emotions and feelings that drive them to do certain things. My Blog is about promoting GNU/Linux and technology. If you try promoting something to people, you are bound to get opposition and just weird and angry comments. I get a lot of Windows users on my site which is good because I want to let them know about a genuine alternative to Microsoft Windows. But some of these people bash Linux from every angle. Majority of this bashing is very immature and often does not include good arguments. I don't think most of these people ever used Linux and are merely repeating information that they heard from others. Nevertheless, the most important part is that GNU/Linux is maturing and now that it is being promoted more, people are realizing that they have an alternative. I have been promoting GNU/Linux for years, even back when it was not as user friendly as it is today. Even then people laughed at it and bashed it from left, right and center. The funny thing is that now when I go over to these people's houses I realize that they are using GNU/Linux. They have switched over. Several years ago they were so against it and now it is running on their home computers. Like I said, human beings are so unpredictable. Even if you get initial resistance and all kinds of illogical arguments, people are becoming aware that there is an alternative out there. And, that is the whole point of promoting something. First they bash it, and later on they use it. Go figure. The GNU/Linux OS is gaining market share and it is getting better with each release. There are a lot of people that are pondering of installing it on their computers. The concept of open source and having a great alternative to Microsoft Windows is slowly becoming embedded in their minds.

GNU/Linux is a really good concept. It empowers the end user and gives you tons of choices, power and freedom. You can choose from hundreds of different distributions, install thousands of free software and customize your OS significanty if you choose to. On the other hand, most proprietary software locks you in and dictates to you what you can do or not do with it. The open source community is based on freedom to copy, modify and redistribute. It is a very different way of thinking than we are currently used to. So, I don't take the people too seriously when they are bashing GNU/Linux because I know that some of them will in a couple of years or even sooner be installing this operating system. GNU/Linux is here to stay and the concept will definitely spread no matter how much illogical resistance there will be. Even Google is getting on board and going to create their own OS based on the Linux kernel. For sure a large company like that will get more people to try it out. There is something to the GNU/Linux community and when the people get to know it properly they will stop bashing it and be part of it. Today's bashers are probably future GNU/Linux users. Illogical? Yes. But that is human nature.

There's a famous quote about this, either by Mark Twain or Bernard Shaw (or some other author, my memory really failed here):

- When first presented to a new idea, some people dismiss it: "It's just a fad, just another novelty". Later when they finally adopt it, they say: "Obviously I use like everybody else, it's such an old thing".

I guess for some people being late-comers is not just a feature -- it's an entire philosophy of life. They loathe being first in _anything_ . When a sufficient number of people start to use Linux, they'll use it naturally as if there would be no other alternative.

They aggressively don't want to get noticed, I guess... that someone would go to such great lengths to go unnoticed -- that baffles me...

I have used Linux since the summer of 2004. I ponder using it before that time but was afraid of messing up my system. When I built my first computer I decided to try Linux. It was love at first sight.My first computer was a Commodore . Users regularly programed their computers. I was even doing some assembly programming. Then Microsoft drove almost every other O.S. out of business. Programming tools and hardware became so expensive that I could no longer afford my hobby. I grew ignorant how the newer systems worked. After I adopted Linux and hardware prices had dropped I returned to this old love. Every thing in the Linux O.S. is so well documented and hardware is now affordable. If Linux had been invented in the early eighties Microsoft would never have survived. If Unix had done what Linus did Microsoft would not of survived. With hardware getting cheaper and open source software getting so good, Microsoft will be force to change their business model to survive.

I've heard people over the last 10+ years telling me that Linux would catch up to Windows on the Desktop. They were frustrated then when I told them that I felt Windows would be the dominant OS on the Desktop and they're frustrated now when I mention the same thing. This does not make me a predominant Windows user though. I use a Mac for audio/video work (Linux just doesn't have the same level of software in these areas) and a Pc for gaming (Linux has no DirectX).

So my argument(s) against Linux for the Desktop are actually just as valid now as they were 10+ years ago.

I use Linux now (on a mult-boot config with XP) for web surfing and occassional web dev work.

I really like the freedom GNU/Linux offers. I am using it from 2001 and got a very good career because of it. Now I use Opensolaris also. I feel windows is ok, but Linux/Unix is great as they allow you to use it as you want to use not as dictated by some companies. It's free so give a try is well worth the time. Ubuntu/Opensolaris is really sleek OS with Plug and play for most of the devices. Buy any branded machine with no OS and install Ubuntu/Opensolaris and enjoy for the years that machine survives. !!!